The Weekly Courier

April 10, 2025

"We seek to connect people to God, each other, and the wider community and to welcome and affirm all people"

Prepare Your Heart...

This Palm Sunday, before you hear Connie lead our Song Team in singing "I'm So Blessed" by the band Cain, check out this fun music video from the original artists.

Click on the picture --> 

This Week's Calls to Action!

• RSVP for the Anti-Racist Film Club screening on Sunday, 4/13
• Order Easter flowers in honor or memory of a loved one
• Consider joining Erica Parsons for our new book study group
• Bring a dish to Affinity Nights next Wednesday (our Holy Week service)

For more information about all of these events and opportunities, read on below...

Spring is the season when United Methodist clergy find out where they will serve for the coming appointment year. United Methodist clergy are appointed to a church one year at a time from July to July. Pastors do not move every year, but coming into appointment season, we don’t always know who will stay in their current location and who will move.

Pastors Heather and Alexa do not anticipate a move this year. We expect to be re-appointed to serve at FUMCO. However, FUMCO is part of a cooperative of United Methodist Churches in the South Sound area and one of the co-op churches is experiencing a pastoral transition this year.

Rev. Denise Roberts, current pastor at St. Andrews UMC in Lacey will be appointed to Leavenworth UMC beginning July 1. We do not yet know who will be appointed to St. Andrews but we anticipate receiving the news within the next few weeks. We will let you know who will be coming to St. Andrews as soon as we know, but in the meantime we offer prayers of thanksgiving for the good work Rev. Denise has done during her time at St. Andrews and as a part of the South Sound Co-op. We will miss her, but we also celebrate this new appointment and the opportunities it brings for Rev. Denise.

If you see Rev. Denise between now and July, please offer her your thanks and well wishes! If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to Pastor Heather or Pastor Alexa. 

Easter Car-Hop

Join us THIS Saturday, April 12 from 1-3pm for our Easter Car-Hop!

We'll have lots of trunks with candy, a cake fundraiser, food trucks, booths from some local non-profits, and even photos with the Easter Bunny. So bring your kids, grandkids, and other young people in your life along for an afternoon of fun and community connection!

How to Order Easter Flowers

Our recent tradition here at First Olympia includes decorating the chancel on Easter morning with many beautiful blooming plants!

We invite you to join in sponsoring the Easter floral display. If you would like to help sponsor the flowers this year, please complete the form below (or fill out a hard copy in the church office) along with your gift of $20 or more. We will also have spider plant starts for $5 each. The names of those honored and remembered will be displayed in a slideshow on Easter Sunday. After worship, you are welcome to take a plant home with you.

Thank you for your generosity! You can order flowers with this link: 

https://fumcoly.breezechms.com/form/easterflowers2025.

Anti-Racist Film Club

The next ARFC screening will be THIS Sunday, 4/13 @12:30.

Based on the memoir "A Boy, A Burrito, and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive" by Richard Montañez, Flamin' Hot (2023) is the origin of Flamin' Hot Cheetos (yes, the chip flavor). After the challenges of a difficult childhood, Richard starts his career as a janitor at the Frito-Lay company. As he and his co-workers are threatened by extensive lay-offs, Richard is inspired by the flavors of his community and pitches a spicy addition to the company line-up. But success isn't immediate and he faces a few more complications on the road to security. 

This film is rated PG-13 for language. Parent discretion is advised.

We'll be showing the movie upstairs at First Olympia UMC in Room 222, 4/13 @12:30PM. There will be a light lunch provided before/during the screening. There will also be popcorn! Our discussion will be held the next day on Monday, 4/14 @7pm over Zoom.

If you're interested in either of these events, please RSVP here: https://fumcoly.breezechms.com/form/ARFCflame.

Lenten Affinity Nights

Affinity Nights continue! Through Lent, we are hosting Affinity Nights every Wednesday evening from 6-8pm. Dinner will be served at 6pm and we'll break into activities at 7pm.

Kaleidoscope Kids will also be running alongside Affinity Nights activities—providing food and fellowship options for all ages. Childcare is available for those who need it during dinner/activity time.

This week's Activities (4/16):

Intergenerational Holy Week Service, Echo Book Club (discussing Bicycling With Butterflies by Sara Dykman), Clean Up Crew

March-April Upper Rooms

March-April issues of the Upper Room are ready for pick-up for $1.00!

You may get yours on a Sunday morning, before or after worship. Or swing by the church Monday-Thursday, 10am-2pm.

Come Join a Choir

Our Common Ground Choir meets on Thursdays @6:45pm in the Gathering Place.

And the Jeffords Memorial Handbell Choir 

meets on Wednesdays @5:30 in the Choir Room. Please come join us!

New Book Study Group (w/ Erica Parsons)

CRINGE. You know the feeling. It comes out of nowhere when you hear a phrase or a song that is familiar and not in a pleasant way. The cringe comes first followed by a wave of memories—some good, a lot bad—and all the feelings and thoughts start swirling around in your mind and body. You're suddenly transported back to your childhood church experiences and the panic sets in—how do I get out? And then you take a deep breath, open your eyes and see that you are safe, you are welcome, you are seen, you are loved. You are an adult now and you've left your childhood church experiences behind you.

But every now and again those old fears come up to the surface and another layer of faith deconstruction happens. Yet something still feels like it's missing. Like you've opened an old wound that just won't heal. You've tried to fill the space with all kinds of things over the years, but your soul is longing for something... something familiar and yet new. Is it even possible, you wonder, to experience a relationship with the divine? To know the spiritual parts of ourselves? To find rest for our souls? If you've been wandering in the wilderness of deconstruction for a while, you may have felt alone, in the dark, aimless. You've heard reconstruction is possible but you have no idea where to start... or even if you want to.

Dear one, you are not alone.

There are others, here in this community, who are on this path with you. They may be sitting right next to you on that pew. Or they are listening to the sermon online because, like you, some days they just can't muster the courage to walk through the door. And we are not alone—there are those who have walked this path before us, and there will be those who walk after us. Generations of people searching, wondering, wandering, seeking, hoping, stumbling, serving. Yes, that's me. You've read this far, so maybe it's you too?

Once a month for an hour, let us gather and share what we know, what we are questioning, our resources and knowledge, our griefs and our joys, our hopes and our worries. We have a book or two that we'll read along the way, to guide our paths. Though deconstruction of your faith may have happened alone, reconstruction can happen together. Please consider joining me on the 3rd Sunday of the month (starting May 18th) from 9-10am in Room 207. If you would like to purchase the books we'll be reading together (starting with Searching For Sunday by Rachel Held Evans) please inquire with the church office by April 23rd. I'm so looking forward to sitting with you, hearing your stories, and reading together!

Can You Donate a Meal?

Lori is having shoulder surgery this month and it would be helpful for her and her family to have meals for a couple of weeks following the surgery. 

Would you be willing to provide a meal or two? It would be for her family of 2 adults, 2 teens, and one child. No dietary restrictions. Here is the sign up for meals...

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D4EA8A82EAA8-55710891-lori#/.

Life of the Church

Our kids had fun last Sunday creating calming jars and learning more about the story of Mary washing Jesus' feet with perfume and her hair. If you have children, grandchildren, or other young folks in your life, bring them to church to learn more Bible stories and create fun projects with Miss Brittney during Sunday School eack week.



You can find more photos from this event (and many more) on our Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/FUMCOLY.

Our Welcoming Statement

First United Methodist Church of Olympia welcomes people of all ages, all abilities,

all sexual orientations and gender identities, all nationalities and ethnicities,

the poor and the rich, single people and the many forms of family.

See our Church Calendar.

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Watch our latest worship service

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Contact us ...

by phone: 360-943-2661 by email: fumco@fumcoly.org

OFFICE HOURS: Sunday 9am-noon | Monday-Thursday 10am-2pm

The Weekly Courier editor: Lauren Fontanilla